MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

“(AINA) — National and international rights groups have consistently criticized the recourse to the so-called ‘reconciliation meetings’ — dubbed ‘Bedouin sittings’ — that take place between Copts and Muslim assailant after every attack on Copts. The meetings are conducted under the auspices of state security. Last week a series of meetings were held by radical Muslims to decide on the fate of the Copts in a village in Alexandria, and Muslims insisted that the whole Coptic population of 62 families must be deported because of an unsubstantiated accusation levied against one Coptic man.

Copts in the village of Kobry-el-Sharbat (El-Ameriya), Alexandria, were attacked on January 27 by a mob of 3000 Muslims led by Salafi leaders, who looted and torched homes and shops belonging to Copts. The violence was prompted by allegations made by a Muslim barber named Toemah that a 34-year-old Coptic tailor, Mourad Samy Guirgis, had on his mobile phone illicit photos of a Muslim woman. Mourad denied the accusation and surrendered to the police for fear for his life. Muslims looted and torched his workshop and home after he surrendered to the police, and his entire family, including his parents and his married brother Romany, were evicted from the village. He is still in police detention. (AINA 1-28-2012).

Three ‘reconciliation meetings’ were held at the El-Ameriya village police headquarters. They were attended by Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood representatives from neighboring villages, as well as church representative. Muslims demanded the eviction of all Coptic inhabitants from the village because ‘Muslim honour had been damaged.’

Many believe that the mobile phone story was fabricated as an excuse to start violence against the Copts. According to the police, the woman in question denied the story and no photos were found on Mourad’s mobile phone, according to Ihab Aziz, a Coptic-American activist who is presently in Egypt.

During the first reconciliation meeting it was agreed that only Copts who were directly involved with the Mourad incident would be evicted, and the church demanded compensation of two million pounds for the innocent Copts whose homes and businesses were torched on January 27. Muslims, especially Salafis from the neighboring villages, refused any kind of compensation and insisted on the eviction of all Copts.

On January 30 a Muslim mob attacked Copts in Kobry-el-Sharbat for the second time, and torched three Coptic homes in the presence of the security forces, ‘which took the role of an onlooker and made no effort to stop the violence,’ according to Joseph Malak, lawyer for the Coptic church in Alexandria. ‘This proves that the assailants were not afraid of the security forces or the law.’

Muslim representatives demanded the eviction of the wealthy Coptic merchant Abeskhayroun Soliman, together with his four married sons and their families, accusing them of causing sedition by shooting in the air when Muslims broke into and torched their home while the family was inside. ‘No one was wounded due to the alleged shootings, which the family says never took place. The police authorities issued an arrest warrant for two of the Soliman sons,’ said Ihab Aziz.” Read more.

“Christian converts in northern Cameroon are coming under intensifying pressure following a warning from militant Muslims to return to Islam or ‘face Allah’s wrath’.

The handwritten threat from a group identifying itself as Boko Haram was put under the door of a church leader’s house earlier this month. It called on all Christian converts to return to Islam at the mosque on Friday 13 January or face the wrath of the god of Islam.

A few days later, two turbaned men arrived by motorcycle at the church leader’s house one night while he was away. One entered the house and ordered the man’s wife and children to lie face down on the ground. He asked where the church leader was and then searched the house. The intruder told the wife to tell her husband that they would get him no matter where he was hiding.

After this distressing incident, the family fled the village, and the other converts have gone into hiding.

Another Christian leader, who has been trying to inform church leaders about the militants’ threat, also had his house searched at night. Two turbaned men carrying a sword turned up and spoke to the man’s wife; they also searched the property and stole his computer. The leader arrived home after the pair had left.

Boko Haram is a militant Islamist group that has been wreaking havoc against Christians in neighbouring Nigeria.” Read more.

By Robert Spencer – “It is good to see Newsweek, which has been an energetically dhimmi publication, finally taking notice of the rampant worldwide Muslim persecution of Christians. It’s also quite surprising, given that in the past, Newsweek has denied the existence of the stealth jihad; billowed fogs of deception about the pro-Sharia Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf as a ‘moderate’; dismissed concerns about the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a ‘conspiracy theory’; dismissed concerns about Eurabia, i.e., the Islamization of Europe, as ‘false fears’; and even called for a general surrender of the West to the global jihad.

So why is a thoroughly compromised publication like Newsweek suddenly noticing the worldwide jihad against Christians? Your guess is as good as mine, but in any case it is a welcome development to see the mainstream media finally waking up to this phenomenon, which we have been tracking here at Jihad Watch for years. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has written a fine piece for them. Because she is an ex-Muslim and an African woman, she is allowed to say things in Newsweek that Newsweek would charge me with ‘racism,’ ‘bigotry’ and ‘Islamophobia’ for saying.

For more in-depth coverage of this issue, see my April 2011 pamphlet, ‘Muslim Persecution of Christians.’ And as for Snoozeweek, in case you’re not planning a trip to the dentist this week, here is an excerpt: ‘Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World,’by Ayaan Hirsi Ali in Newsweek, February 6:” Read more.

‘Bloody’: Christian Persecution is ‘Coursing Through Muslim-Majority Nations from One End of the Globe to the Other’ – “We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny. But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm… The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop. Nothing less than the fate of Christianity—and ultimately of all religious minorities—in the Islamic world is at stake.” Read more.

“Officials from the Malatya Municipality have demolished three buildings, including a place of worship that was under renovation, located inside an Armenian cemetery even though the Malatya governor and mayor gave permission.

A residence for the watchman, a room to bathe the bodies of the dead and a place of worship were pulled down when nobody in charge of the cemetery was around on Thursday. The municipality officials said the place of worship was being built without official permission, and argued that there was nothing illegal about the demolishment.

Citing the intolerance towards Armenians as the reason behind the municipality’s move, Turkish media outlets reported on Friday that the municipality had the facilities pulled down because of hundreds of petitions submitted by locals who opposed the construction of a place of worship for Armenians, thinking that a church was being built.

Malatya Mayor Ahmet Çakır gave verbal permission for building the place of worship on orders by Malatya Governor Ulvi Saran. The cost of the building was met by an İstanbul-based philanthropist foundation of Malatya Armenians, HAYDER. The blueprint of the place of worship was drawn up by renowned Turkish-Armenian architect Kevork Özkaragöz.

Garo Paylan, member of the board of directors of HAYDER, said in a statement that both the governor and the municipality were quite warm to the idea of renovating the demolished buildings at the cemetery four months ago.

‘However, our cemetery does not belong to us anymore, it belongs to the municipality. Therefore, we asked the municipality for renovation, but they said they can’t do it even though they will allow us to do it,’ he said.

The renovation work started in the cemetery in Malatya, where there is only about 100 Armenians left.

‘It is important for those people to bury their loved ones according to their religious practices. Since there are no churches left in Malatya, the only place that they can have a religious ceremony is in the cemetery,’ he said.” Read more.

Flashback: Turkey: Secular Opposition Laments the Rise of Islamism in Turkish Government and Society, Christians Under Increasing Pressure – “In a Turkey with a secular constitution and a government and population of the Muslim faith, the social-democrat opposition has denounced an attack by the government and the presidency on the tradition of Ataturk festivities, symbol of the state’s secular nature. The alarm has come on a day in which a daily paper provided details on a report by the Association of Protestant Christian Churches noting numerous ‘attacks’ on Christian communities.” Read more.

By Dan Wooding – “SOUTH KORDOFAN, SUDAN (ANS) — Samaritan’s Purse has announced that a Bible school that they support, was destroyed on Wednesday, February 1, 2012, in the latest bombing raid to hit South Kordofan, an oil-rich Sudanese province that borders the newly created independent country of South Sudan.

At least eight bombs were dropped in the area of Heiban Bible College Wednesday during the school’s first day of classes, according to a statement by Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham’s Christian humanitarian group, which supports the school.

Heiban Bible College operates out of a compound in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan, which borders the new nation of South Sudan, and fortunately, no injuries were reported.

‘We have been working for years in Sudan,’ Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham said on Wednesday. ‘Today our Bible school in Heiban in the Nuba Mountains was bombed by the Sudanese Air Force. No one was killed or hurt, but buildings were destroyed. Please pray for the safety of believers, and that God would intervene.’

The son of evangelist Billy Graham went on to say, ‘My staff and I are deeply concerned for the welfare and lives of the people in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan who were terrorized by the bombings of the Heiban Bible College. This attack was carried out by Sudanese Air Force planes that dropped eight bombs on the school that Samaritan’s Purse, the international Christian relief organization I lead, constructed and dedicated in 2007 to train local pastors.

‘It was the first day of class for the new school year and the campus was full of students, teachers and teachers’ families. It was a miracle that no one was injured or killed.'” Read more.

Flashback: Sudan: President Al-Bashir Moves Forward with Rewriting the Country’s Constitution to Implement Sharia Law – “Sudanese leader Omer Hassan Al-Bashir is moving forward with rewriting the country’s constitution to implement Shariah law, according to reports from organizations with links inside the Muslim-dominated nation. International Christian Concern’s North Africa specialist Jonathan Racho says that a Shariah-compliant constitution will mean more suffering for Sudan’s remaining Christians. ‘This new law (Shariah compliant constitution) is going to affect a significant number of Christians who live in places like Khartoum (the capital city). There are still a significant number of Christians in Sudan,’ Racho said.” Read more.

Flashback: Sudan: Authorities Threaten to Arrest Church Leaders Involved in Preaching or Evangelistic Activities – “Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments has threatened to arrest church leaders if they carry out evangelistic activities and do not comply with an order for churches to provide their names and contact information, Christian sources said. The warning in a Jan. 3 letter to church leaders of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) arrived a few days after Sudan President Omar al-Bashir told cheering crowds on Jan. 3 that, following the secession of largely non-Islamic south Sudan last July, the country’s constitution will be more deeply entrenched in sharia (Islamic law).” Read more.

Flashback: Sudan: Christianity No Longer an Accepted Religion, Muslims Attack Christians Trying to Rebuild Church – “Emboldened by government calls for a Sudan based on Islamic law since the secession of South Sudan, Muslims long opposed to a church near Khartoum have attacked Christians trying to finish constructing their building, sources said. The Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) congregation in Omdurman West, across the Nile River from Khartoum, has continued to meet for Sunday worship in a building without a roof in spite of opposition from area Muslims and local authorities, the sources told Compass. Claiming that Christianity was no longer an accepted religion in the country, Muslims in the Hay al Sawra, Block 29 area of Omdurman West on Aug. 5 attacked SCOC members who were constructing the church building, the sources said.” Read more.

AP – “A Catholic church in Nigeria still in mourning after a Christmas Day bombing by a radical Islamist sect buried its dead Wednesday amid wails of grief and under the watch of security agencies that still fear more violence.

Neatly dug graves awaited the corpses in a vacant dirt lot in the church’s compound, now turned into a mass tomb. Church officials said that of at least 44 people who died in the violence at St. Theresa Catholic Church, some still remain unclaimed and unrecognizable after the Dec. 25 attack by the sect known as Boko Haram.

Inside the church, whose front steps have been barred off by iron fencing, red bunting hung above the altar over a crucifix and a painting of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, his hands open wide, his face serene. About 2,000 mourners and priests surrounded the caskets placed there.

One casket, covered in Nigeria’s green-and-white national flag, had a pair of black boots sitting atop. The body within belonged to a young Boy Scout.

‘As I look at you, I am consoled and comforted. As I looked at the caskets here covered in white, I am comforted and consoled because from the day of our baptism we were given a white cloth,’ Bishop Martin Uzoukwu said.

The bishop called on the crowd to forgive, as well as praise God.” Read more.

Al-Qaeda’s hand in Boko Haram’s deadly Nigerian attacks – “The radical Islamist group, based in northern Nigeria, once specialised in robbing banks and attacking defenceless Christian congregations. In the past month, however, its gunmen or suicide bombers have struck 21 times, killing at least 253 people. The Daily Telegraph understands this transformation has come about partly because of the help Boko Haram has received from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a branch of the international terrorist network based in the Saharan states of Mali, Niger and Algeria. Boko Haram demonstrated its new potency on Jan 20, when at least 100 of the movement’s fighters executed eight assaults in Nigeria’s northern city of Kano, overwhelming the security forces and killing 185 people. This operation bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda: a mixture of suicide bombers and gunmen, some in police or army uniform, carried out multiple, carefully coordinated attacks on hard targets.” Read more.

Nigeria: Boko Haram – Delta Churches Acquire Bomb Detectors – “In response to the growing insecurity in the country, churches in Delta State have taken measures to protect their premises and congregations from bomb attacks. The churches have therefore acquired bomb detecting machines or Friskers. LEADERSHIP checks revealed that in the last few weeks major congregations have been enveloped in fear of the unknown and had acquired bomb detectors as the only solution to the spate of bombings in the country. Sources said while most churches in Asaba and Ibusa had acquired the friskers, others have resorted to using private security personnels and may have concluded plans to acquire theirs too. Dependable sources said that Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) worried by dastardly acts perpetrated by Boko Haram, especially the Madalla Christmas Day bombing, has encouraged church leaders to enhance their security either by private arrangement or in concert with the formal security agencies.” Source – allAfrica.com.

Revelation 6:9-11, “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both [the number of] their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they [were], was completed.”

By Ayaan Hirsi Ali – “We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny. But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm.

The portrayal of Muslims as victims or heroes is at best partially accurate. In recent years the violent oppression of Christian minorities has become the norm in Muslim-majority nations stretching from West Africa and the Middle East to South Asia and Oceania. In some countries it is governments and their agents that have burned churches and imprisoned parishioners. In others, rebel groups and vigilantes have taken matters into their own hands, murdering Christians and driving them from regions where their roots go back centuries.

The media’s reticence on the subject no doubt has several sources. One may be fear of provoking additional violence. Another is most likely the influence of lobbying groups such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation—a kind of United Nations of Islam centered in Saudi Arabia—and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Over the past decade, these and similar groups have been remarkably successful in persuading leading public figures and journalists in the West to think of each and every example of perceived anti-Muslim discrimination as an expression of a systematic and sinister derangement called ‘Islamophobia’—a term that is meant to elicit the same moral disapproval as xenophobia or homophobia.

But a fair-minded assessment of recent events and trends leads to the conclusion that the scale and severity of Islamophobia pales in comparison with the bloody Christophobia currently coursing through Muslim-majority nations from one end of the globe to the other. The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop. Nothing less than the fate of Christianity—and ultimately of all religious minorities—in the Islamic world is at stake.” Read more.

‘The Most Important International Story Not Being Told by the Mainstream Media’: Christian Persecution in the Middle East – “… former New York Times reporter Clifford D. May, writes that ‘persecution of Christians in numerous Muslim-majority countries is the most important international story not being told by the mainstream media.’… U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom chairman Leonard Leo declared that Arab Christians face increasing persecution. ‘Christianity in Iraq could be eradicated in our lifetime, partially as a result of the U.S. troop withdrawal,’ Leo wrote. After Hosni Mubarak’s regime collapsed, 100,000 Christians fled Egypt in what the Egyptian Union of Human Rights called a ‘mass exodus.’” Read more.

By Benjamin Weinthal and Giulio Meotti – “The case of the Iranian pastor sentenced to death for his faith has attached a human face to the horrible situation of Christians in the Middle East…

Our colleague, the former New York Times reporter Clifford D. May, writes that ‘persecution of Christians in numerous Muslim-majority countries is the most important international story not being told by the mainstream media.’

Take the example of Habib Bastam, an Iranian who converted to Christianity and sought political asylum in Romania. In 2009, one of Tehran’s star chamber courts sentenced him to death for ‘apostasy.’ Earlier this month, the Romanians denied him asylum.

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom chairman Leonard Leo declared that Arab Christians face increasing persecution. ‘Christianity in Iraq could be eradicated in our lifetime, partially as a result of the U.S. troop withdrawal,’ Leo wrote.

After Hosni Mubarak’s regime collapsed, 100,000 Christians fled Egypt in what the Egyptian Union of Human Rights called a ‘mass exodus.’ In the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the radical Islamic terror group Hamas, 3,000 Christians face persecution…

Should the exodus of Christians from Bethlehem continue in the next two or three decades, there may be no clergy left to conduct religious services in Jesus’ birthplace.

Unsurprisingly, but nonetheless largely ignored by the media, Israel is the only country in the Middle East where a Christian population is vibrant and growing. As documented in the Jerusalem Central Bureau of Statistics, the Israel’s Christian community that numbered 34,000 people in 1949 is now 163,000 strong, and will reach 187,000 in 2020.

In Egypt, the provisional military rulers’ traditional hostility toward radical Islamic groups has led them to embrace the more moderate Muslim Brotherhood.

The public backlash has empowered more radical Salafists, who’ve been implicated in deadly attacks on Coptic Christian churches.

In 2005, Syria launched a nefarious campaign against Lebanon’s Christians, targeting pro-Western politicians and journalists.

In Saudi Arabia, religious police beat and torture Christians…” Read more.

“Nigeria (MNN) ― Five more people are dead as Boko Haram continues its spread of terror across northern Nigeria. Churches have been attacked, Christians murdered, and now even Muslims are being targeted. Mostly those who are trying to protect Christians, or are sympathetic to them.

The most recent attack came when the Boko Haram Islamic Sect on Monday night invaded the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, barracks as well as a police station in Maiduguri, Borno State, killing five people including a soldier, two policemen and two civilians.

It’s a quest to force the region into Sharia law

Africa Director for Christian Aid Mission Rae Burnett says missionaries they’re supporting are reaching the unreached in these areas, but she’s concerned that openness will end. ‘The fear is that the villagers will get word of this and be afraid to allow the Christian missionaries in. They’ve seen and appreciated the love of the Christians to be helpful to them. If Boko Haram gets word of it, they’ll chase them out.’

Up until just recently Boko Haram had been focusing on terror in major cities. But, that’s changing, says Burnett…

This would destroy the work Christian Aid Mission has been able to do. It’s already affected some of their partners. ‘Several of the missionaries have had to leave their fields because of the threats. Of course, these Boko Haram people have relatives everywhere. And if one of them is in one of these villages, then it can cause these missionaries trouble.'” Read more.

“A Christian convert whom security authorities arrested in her home was sentenced to two years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.

According to reports sent by reporters of Iranian Christian news agency, Mohabat News, Ms. Leila Mohammadi, a Christian convert who resided east of Tehran, was sentenced to two years of imprisonment after enduring 5 months of uncertainty in notorious Evin prison.

Her trial was held on 18 January in Revolutionary Court in Moalem street where she was charged with ‘collaboration with foreign-dependent groups, broad anti-Islamic propaganda, deceiving citizens by formation of what is called a house church, Insulting sacred figures and action against national security.’ However she was acquitted of collaboration with foreign-dependent groups because the judge believed she had done that unintentionally. For the other charges she was sentenced to two years in prison and the ruling was delivered to her.

After the verdict was issued knowledgeable sources reported that her attorney announced that the case was sent to the high court of Tehran province to be reviewed.

Leila Mohammadi, was arrested after a number of security agents raided her home on 30 July, 2011 at 10:30 P.M. in Kianshahr town, east of Tehran. The agents thoroughly searched her house and also confiscated some of her belongings.

Ms. Mohammadi was taken to Horr custody center which belongs to the Iranian police forces. From there, she was transferred to Evin prison. On 28 December 2011, she was released on a bail of 150,000 USD after 74 days in harsh conditions in solitary confinement in Evin prison.

It is being reported that some other people were also arrested in relation to this case. According to this report, some days after Ms. Mohammadi’s arrest, another person called Parviz G. was also arrested by security agents. Again, in this case they thoroughly searched Parviz G’s house and seized his belongings including his computer. He was freed after spending three days in Evin custody center and being subjected to interrogations and signing a disclaimer. It seems that his arrest was related to evangelical activities of his wife ‘Masoumeh’ who was linked to the case of Leila Mohammadi.” Source – Mohabat News.

Sura 9:123, “O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you …”

‘Illicit mingling.’ As if being Christian had nothing to do with it …

“Some 35 Ethiopian Christians face deportation from Saudi Arabia for ‘illicit mingling’, the global rights body Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

Police arrested the group – including 29 women – after raiding a prayer meeting in the second city of Jeddah.

The women were subjected to strip searches and the men beaten and called ‘unbelievers’, according to HRW.

In 2006, the Saudi government promised to stop interfering with private worship by non-Muslims.

The group was arrested in a private home as they gathered to pray during the run-up to Christmas, celebrated by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians on 7 January.

HRW spoke to a man and two women by telephone from the prisons where they are being held.

They say they have been charged with mixing with unmarried persons of the opposite sex – even though HRW says Saudi Arabia has no law defining ‘illicit mingling’.

Mixing of the sexes is not allowed in public – but normally permitted in private unless for ‘the purpose of corruption’, according to the religious police.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Unprecedented’: Saudi Security Forces Raid Christian Prayer Meeting in Jeddah and Arrest 42 Christians, Many Beaten and Threatened with Death – “International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Saudi security forces arrested 42 Ethiopian Christians at a prayer gathering in Jeddah on Thursday … at the home of an Ethiopian Christian in the Al-Safa district of Jeddah. Those attending the service were reportedly beaten and threatened before being arrested. ‘Security officials broke [into] the house and captured… beat and threatened them for death… They divided the men and the women and they are torturing them [in prison],’ an Ethiopian and Eritrean Christian immigrant community living in Europe wrote in a desperate appeal for help to the ambassadors of European embassies in Riyadh on Friday.” Read more.

Flashback: Saudis Export Anti-Christian and Anti-Jewish Textbooks that Continue to Fuel Intolerance and Violence Around the Globe – “Textbooks used in Saudi Arabia’s schools contain virulent forms of anti-Christian and anti-Jewish bigotry that continue to fuel intolerance and violence around the globe, says a new report. The problem is far greater than the five million students in Saudi Arabia who use these texts every day, said Nina Shea, director of the Washington-based Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom. ‘Because of the Saudis’ great oil wealth, it is able to disseminate its textbooks far and wide,’ she wrote in the report, Ten Years On. ‘[These textbooks] are posted on the Saudi Education Ministry’s website and are shipped and distributed free by a vast Saudi-sponsored Sunni infrastructure to many Muslim schools, mosques and libraries throughout the world. ‘This is not just hate mongering, it’s promoting violence,’ she said in an interview. It is exporting terrorism through textbooks.” Read more.